It’s only been four years since the Bassmaster Classic last visited Lake Ray Roberts, but this time will be very different for a number of reasons.
First and foremost, the 2025 Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Classic presented by Under Armour will be held in March, not in June as it was in 2021. It was scheduled for March that year but was postponed until early summer because of the pandemic.
Secondly, the field will be missing six of the Top 10 finishers from 2021. Hank Cherry didn’t qualify for this year’s event, nor did five others of the Top 10. Those who did well and qualified for this year include Matt Arey, who placed second at the 2021 Classic; Chris Johnston, who was eighth; Drew Cook, who was ninth; and Patrick Walters, who was 10th.
When Cherry won in 2021, the lake was 4 feet high, with water pushing into the bushes and beyond. In addition, anglers were capitalizing on a shad spawn that probably won’t be in play this time.
Fishing conditions should be considerably different this time.
Late March typically offers up prespawn conditions, and depending on the weather, there should be some fish up shallow with spawning on their minds.
As is always the case with fishing, weather leading up to the Classic will play a big role. With fairly stable weather and traditional water levels, this event will still provide a mixed bag of results — and some mighty big bass.
Big-fish potential
Make no mistake about it: The 29,350-acre lake located about an hour north of Fort Worth isn’t known for producing numbers of bass, but it’s quite capable of delivering double-digit trophy bass.
No one knows that better than Dannie Golden of Get Bit Guide Service. Lake Ray Roberts is his home lake, where he has guided for 23 years, and he was fishing there when the lake first opened in the early 1990s.
“It can be a very tough lake, but the third week of March is usually prime time when waves of big fish are moving shallow,” he says. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we see a 10-pounder or bigger brought in during the Classic — maybe multiple double-digit bass.”
Golden knows the lake’s potential. He was the guide who netted Shannon Elvington’s lake record — 15.18 pounds — in March 2015. It was caught on a jerkbait. The day before, Golden caught a 10-pounder while fishing alone.
Tournaments held on the lake that time of year typically take 30 pounds to win and 20 pounds to get a check.
“Honestly, other than the spring, most locals don’t like to fish the lake because numbers are hard to come by, but the average size to win a tournament is among the best in the area.”
Successful stocking
While the numbers may not match those of other Texas lakes, Texas Parks and Wildlife fisheries biologist Dan Bennett says things are improving.
“We’ve had some of our best bass population survey results the past two years,” he says. “It’s due to stable water levels and an increase in submerged vegetation. Since 2019, our survey catches of legal fish per hour have nearly doubled, and we saw a jump in the number of larger fish.”
Texas Parks has stocked the lake with Florida largemouth every couple of years. Last year, they planted 250,000 “Lone Star Bass” fingerlings, which are the offspring from the Toyota ShareLunker Program.
Texas biologists also have made several efforts to restore aquatic vegetation in the lake. Last year, the lake saw milfoil growing fairly shallow, and a lot of pondweed as well.
“We don’t spray; we want as much vegetation as we can get,” adds Bennett.
However, it’s unlikely much of that plant life will rebound from winter in time for the Classic.
Golden says the lake had the most grass he’d seen in 10 years or more, but it flooded and stayed high during the summer, and a lot of grass died back.
That’s not to say there isn’t cover in the lake. Ray Roberts consists of east and west arms that are very different. The east arm is larger and has an abundance of timber that makes boat operation treacherous in some areas. Both arms have a diverse mix of structure, including steep shorelines, boulders, channel bends and humps.
“The east has more spawning flats and pockets and more grass,” the Pilot Point, Texas, bass guide says. “It often produces winning stringers early in the year, and then during summer, the west is best for me.”
The west arm tends to provide more stained water. The east generally is clearer, has more timber and is where a lot of smallmouth — and meanmouth — bass are caught.
A meanmouth bass is a hybrid that has developed naturally in the lake and is caused by a cross between spotted and smallmouth bass.
“We have a persistent spotted and smallmouth bass population,” explains Bennett. “There’s a pretty good number of meanmouth in the lake, and we see them in the 5- to 6-pound range. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some show up in the weigh-in.”
Golden says most meanmouth appear more plentiful than smallmouth, although catches of both are accidental. Casey Bowsher caught the lake record of 6.5 pounds while fishing with Golden.
“There are some spotted bass in the lake, but not many get caught,” he says. “They aren’t as big as the ones in east Texas. I think the lake record is just over 4 pounds.”
There’s no lack of forage. The lake is full of threadfin shad, gizzard shad, crawfish and some bluegill.
Potential patterns
While Golden predicts anglers could find a lot of spawning fish along with prespawn fish, other Texans expect prespawn tactics to dominate.
Retired Bassmaster Elite Series angler Frank Talley, who caught the biggest bass (8-3) in the 2021 Ray Roberts Classic, predicts more of a prespawn bite than a bed fishing tournament.
“In that part of the state, those fish probably won’t spawn until April,” says the Texas resident. “But if we get some unseasonably warm weather, that could change.”
Even so, he adds, this could be a Classic in which the winner doesn’t weigh in a limit each of the three days.
“The lake is chock-full of 4- and 6-pounders but doesn’t have the number of 2s and 3s you see on other lakes,” he adds. “When I was there for practice prior to our Classic, I caught most of my fish throwing a ChatterBait around the bank, but a great day was six or seven bites.”
He adds that the guy plugging around the bank may only get five or six bites, “but they’ll be the ones you want to take to the weigh-in.”
Talley says competitors may also discover a “Guntersville-like” pattern along riprap and pinch points leading into the big creeks with flats on them.
He also believes there will be fish moving deep to shallow but predicts forward-facing sonar (FFS) will be a big player, especially around the deep, standing timber.
“You will probably see a lot of jighead minnow, underspin and jerkbait bites,” he adds.
Of course, there are other ways to catch them during prespawn. He says the guy who finds good ditches running into spawning flats could do very well.
“All of the big tournaments are won in the east arm,” says Talley. “It’s got deeper timber, defined creek channels, spawning flats and more creeks and pockets.”
Other offshore structure could come into play.
“There are a lot of humps and other structure in 12 to 20 feet where a guy could land on a nice school of fish,” he says. “I’ve caught fish Carolina rigging deep humps in March.”
Samuel Climer of the Lake Pro Tackle Shop in Gainesville, Texas, also believes FFS will be a huge factor due to the diverse cover and time of year.
“I expect timberlines and house foundations to be a player in 10 to 35 feet of water,” he says. “But I also think it will take about 18 pounds a day to win. A guy will have to play it day by day because the lake rarely fishes the same each day.”
Fishing’s biggest event is making its second trip to Lake Ray Roberts in four years. But the lake will likely offer a different playing field this time.
